Join award-winning author Nita Sweeney at this year’s Ohioana Book Festival.
Saturday, April 22nd NITA WILL READ AT 2;15pm Columbus Metropolitan Library – Main Branch
96. S. Grant Avenue (downtown)
Since its inception in 2007, the Festival has given readers the opportunity to connect with their favorite Ohio writers. Held each spring, the Festival welcomes roughly 140 authors and more than 3,000 visitors every year.
The 2023 Festival will be back at Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Main Library, on Saturday, April 22, 2023!
All three of Nita’s books will be available for sale and she will happily sign as many as you would like. The Book Loft will once again handle book sales.
Visit the Ohioana website for the complete list of authors.
Join award-winning author Nita Sweeney and other presenters and exhibitors at this health and wellness event.
How far can we go when we move together?
We are pleased to announce the 1st Annual Move Together Columbus event on Sunday, July 10, 2022! This celebration of community will feature community wellness workshops, programs, and plenty of fun for all ages and abilities! In a time when it is so easy to feel alone, we encourage you to move together!
Move Together Columbus has an entirely donation-based registration for all attendees and program hosts. All proceeds will go to our 2022 benefactors, Brown Girls Mentoring and Black Girls RUN! Columbus. Move Together Columbus will kick off with a 1 mile run/walk hosted by Black Girls RUN!, and the fun continues from there! Visit booths, attend workshops, and hang around for raffles, live music, and more!
Nita will present two programs:
Noon: Make Every Move a Meditation: How to Meditate While You Move
and
12:30pm: Depression Hates a Moving Target: Movement for Mental Health
Copies of Nita’s award-winning running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target, will be for sale after the presentations and Nita will happily sign as many copies as you want!
WELCOME to the WORLD PREMIERE of Jason Didner’s “RUN WITH MY TROUBLES!”
For the first 24 hours, nitasweeney.com is the only outlet showing the video.
THANK YOU JASON!
New Jersey musician Jason Didner featured Nita Sweeney and her yellow Labrador running partner Scarlet, along with other mental health runners in a music video of his original song “Run with My Troubles.”
Two of Jason’s life passions of running and music were the impetus for his latest musical endeavor. He hopes the song and video inspire people to take that hardest step—out the front door—for better mental and physical health.
Jason didn’t do it alone
To demonstrate how running can make a positive impact on an athlete’s life, Jason solicited videos from people with interesting running/exercise stories. He received contributions that exceeded his wildest imagination.
For example, Barefoot Ted, a runner prominently featured in Christopher McDougall’s best-selling memoir, Born to Run, provided a stunning slow-motion video. Jason was so intrigued by Ted’s unique running style that he invited Ted to participate in the music video.
Nita, author of the award-winning running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target, submitted a genuinely endearing clip of herself running with Scarlet. Her clip demonstrates the powerful connection that can be created between an athlete and a canine when they participate in outdoor activities, such as exercise, together.
The video also serves as an excellent reminder that not all humans move on two legs. Wheelchair ultramarathoner Julia Beckley submitted a breathtaking scene of her training on a Montana highway with her mom riding horseback behind her.
Additionally, friends of Jason’s submitted running clips, showcasing diversity in race, gender, age and geography.
Jason’s own crisis prompted the song and mental health video
“Two years ago I was at a crossroads,” Jason says. “My physical and mental health were under profound stress. Years of insomnia culminated in a likely anxiety attack that landed me in the emergency room in the middle of the night. I considered seeing a psychiatrist to explore the possibility of a prescription. But first, I was willing to see if exercise could bring the balance I was lacking. That experiment worked.”
“This song is a celebration of what I’ve learned.”
The music reflects Jason’s passion for rock, and, in particular, the indelible impressions made on him by the late and great guitarist, Eddie Van Halen. “I really wanted to honor Eddie’s memory with the guitar solo and worked hard for precision in the fast passages,” Jason says. Still, he also allowed himself to draw inspiration from the next generation of Van Halens. “Hearing Eddie’s son Wolfgang record every instrument plus vocals inspired me to learn drums so I could record every instrument on this latest round of songs,” he adds.
Jason’s wife Amy, a mental health blogger, co-wrote the lyrics and co-directed the video. Amy and Jason often exercise together, along with their 10-year-old daughter. Their shared routine includes walks, strength training cardio boxing and the use of a treadmill and exercise bikes side by side.
Roundtable on Youtube!
We’re still finding a date that works for everyone, but Jason will hold a Roundtable Discussion about Mental Health on his Youtube Channel. If you subscribe to his channel and click the “bell” you will receive a notice.
Upcoming Album; Single on Bandcamp
The song “Run With My Troubles” will be featured on Jason’s album, currently in progress but set for release this year. It focuses on coping with mental health issues, including exercise, gratitude, recognizing hard-earned progress and self-compassion.
Jason released the single “Run with My Troubles” on Bandcamp,. Listeners can stream the track for free or download it for $1.
If you purchase something through the affiliate links on this page, Write Now Columbus, a collection of resources for central Ohio writers and readers, will receive a small percentage of the sale.
In 1966, the world believed it was impossible for a woman to run the Boston Marathon. Bobbi Gibb was determined to prove them wrong. She said she would do it, she wasn’t a liar; she’d show them by running like the wind in the fire.
Dubbed the “Mayor of Running,” Bart Yasso is one of the best-known figures in the sport, but few people know why he started running competitively, how it changed his life, or how his brush with a crippling illness nearly ended his career a decade ago. With insight and humor, My Life on the Run chronicles the heatstroke and frostbite, heartache and triumphs experienced while competing in more than 1,000 competitive races during his nearly 30 years with Runner’s World magazine.
Now, for the first time, the editors of Runner’s World have gathered these and other powerful tales to give readers a collection of writing that is impossible to put down.
Athlete. Runner. Marathoner. Are these words you wouldn’t exactly use to describe yourself? Do you consider yourself too old or too out of shape to run a marathon? But somewhere deep inside have you always admired the people who could reach down and come up with the mental and physical strength to complete such a daunting and rewarding accomplishment? It doesn’t have to be somebody else crossing the finish line. You can be a marathoner.
Exercise is not optional: You don’t have to run a marathon to be fit and healthy or suffer through a triathlon that includes a half-mile swim in the ocean. But you do need an exercise habit. Especially as we age, exercise is not optional. Yet unless we had been athletes as kids or young adults, and few of us were, we do not know how to find our edge. Learning how to carve out time to meet our fitness needs or to push ourselves physically and mentally is one of the greatest challenges to aging well.
A fascinating glimpse into the mind of an ultramarathon runner and the inspirational saga of his run across America. The ultimate endurance athlete, Marshall Ulrich has run more than one hundred foot races averaging over one hundred miles each, completed twelve expedition-length adventure races, and ascended the seven summits– including Mount Everest.
Katherine Switzer ran the Boston Marathon in 1967 where she was attacked by one of the event’s directors who wanted to eject her from the all-male race. She fought off the director and finished the race. From the childhood events that inspired her to winning the New York City Marathon in 1974, this liberally illustrated book details the struggles and achievements of a pioneering woman in sports.
The book that helped get the world running is back. This New York Times bestseller written by the late runner, doctor, philosopher, Dr. George Sheehan is a timeless classic. It tells of Dr. Sheehan’s midlife return to the world of exercise, play, and competition. Focusing on the importance of “play”, Sheehan describes his program for fitness and joy, sharing with the reader how the body helps open up our mental and spiritual energies.
All runners strive to get in the “zone,” but here you’ll learn to enter the ZEN “zone”! By adopting Buddha’s mindful approach, you’ll discover that you can run longer, faster, and harder. Zen and the Art of Running shows you how to align body and mind for success on — and off — the track! Iron Man triathlete and philosophy professor Larry Shapiro coaches you to get out and run, train harder, and race the Zen way.
Finding Ultra is an incredible but true account of achieving one of the most awe-inspiring midlife physical transformations ever. On the night before he was to turn forty, Rich Roll experienced a chilling glimpse of his future. Nearly fifty pounds overweight and unable to climb the stairs without stopping, he could see where his current sedentary life was taking him—and he woke up.
The legendary long-distance runner details his historic victory in the 1975 Boston Marathon that launched the modern running boom. Within a span of two hours and nine minutes, Bill Rodgers went from obscurity to legend, from Bill Rodgers to “Boston Billy.” In doing so, he instantly became the people’s champ and the poster boy for the soulful 1970s distance runner. Having won the Boston Marathon and New York Marathon four times each, he remains the only marathoner to have appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice. Winning the Holy Grail of marathons in an unthinkable record time changed Bill’s life forever.
Originally self-published in 1978, Once a Runner captures the essence of competitive running—and of athletic competition in general—and has become one of the most beloved sports novels ever published.
A collection of running stories from Canada and around the world. A book for runners written by a runner about runners. Profiles and interesting stories to inspire, motivate about everyone from middle-of-the-pack runners, Olympians, elites and just plain interesting people who lace up. The stories are peppered up with quotes from the running world and spiced up with a few photos.
The Silence of Great Distance is the story of the developing world of women’s athletics, focused on long-distance running. With significant chapters on Doris Brown Heritage, the women of the Soviet Union, and Mary Decker Slaney, the primary narrative is carried by Stephanie Herbst, a nine-time all-American who competed for the University of Wisconsin between 1984 and 1988.
In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he’d completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, not to mention triathlons and a dozen critically acclaimed books, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and even more importantly, on his writing.
The first biography of the legendary track coach, and founder of Nike, who had an unparalleled impact on the sport of running. During his tenure as track coach at the University of Oregon from 1949 through 1972, Bill Bowerman won 4 national team titles, trained dozens of milers to break the 4-minute barrier, and his athletes set 13 world and 22 American records. Single-handedly he helped turn the college town of Eugene, Oregon, into the running capital of the world.
A unique fitness program from a highly respected spiritual leader that blends physical and spiritual practice for everyone – regardless of age, spiritual background, or ability – to great benefits for both body and soul.
Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.
A simple request for training advice turned into a year of high-intensity coaching, unexpected adventure, unlikely friendships, and the realization that life, like the marathon, isn’t about the finish line. Through the journal of Lola, a nom de plume created to embody the spirit of all runners, Amy Marxkors chronicles her journey of self-discovery as she decides to find out just how good she could be if she really tried. Humorous and endearingly candid, The Lola Papers reveals the universal truths and profound humanity hidden in the miles, showing that sometimes the greatest gift in life is getting more than what you bargained for.
Have you ever thought about running a 5K naked or getting the all-time biggest marathon finisher’s medal? How about running five miles while eating a dozen donuts or chugging down a few beers? Or maybe you’d prefer running a half marathon in paradise or a 5K dressed as a gorilla? Whatever your dreams, runner and traveler Denise Malan has written the perfect book for everybody who is searching for America’s greatest—and craziest—running adventures: the races that all enthusiasts should seriously consider running before they die. She gives the inside scoop on 200 truly unique races around the United States, covering distances from one mile to ultramarathon.
New York City firefighter’s emotional and inspiring memoir of learning to run again after a debilitating accident, based on the wildly popular March 2009 piece in Runner’s World.
On the morning of December 22, 2005, Matt Long was cycling to work in the early morning when he was struck by and sucked under a 20-ton bus making an illegal turn. The injuries he sustained pushed him within inches of his life. Miraculously, more than 40 operations and months later, Matt was able to start his recovery. In spite of the severity of his injuries, Matt found the psychological consequences of the accident nearly as hard to process. He would no longer be able to compete at the highest level.
A phenomenal portrait of courage and desire that will do for college cross-country what John Feinstein’s A Season on the Brink did for college basketball.
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
The incredible true story of Meb Keflezighi, winner of the 2014 Boston Marathon! When Meb Keflezighi won the New York City Marathon in 2009—the first American to do so in 27 years—some critics questioned whether the Eritrean-born runner was “really” an American despite his citizenship status and representing the USA on two Olympic and several World Championship teams.
Can’t Nothing Bring Me Down is the memoir of 104-year-old, world-record-holding runner Ida Keeling. Miss Ida, as she’s known throughout her Bronx community, isn’t your typical runner. Her fierce independence helped her through the Depression and the Civil Rights movement. But her greatest trials were yet to come.
From an Olympic medalist runner and the record-holder in the women’s marathon and half-marathon, a vividly inspirational memoir on using positive psychology and brain science to achieve unparalleled athletic success.
From the downright hilarious to the truly profound, the linked stories in Run! create an unforgettable tableau, providing readers with the ultimate escape and offering a rare glimpse into the mindset and motivation of an extreme athlete. Karnazes addresses the pain and perseverance and also charts his emotional state as he pushes the edges of human achievement.
Karnazes reveals the mind-boggling adventures of his nonstop treks through the hell of Death Valley, the incomprehensible frigidity of the South Pole, and the breathtaking beauty of the mountains and canyons of the Sierra Nevada.
As funny as it is dramatic, “ICU to Marathon – Diaries of a Nearly Dead Man” by David Johndrow will capture your heart and inspire you to try harder, laugh more and maybe even pray.
All runners, from beginners to Olympians, will delight in this luminous compendium of wisdom wrought from many years of running. Applying his clear vision and wry wit to a smorgasbord of running-related topics, including stretching, dancing, bugs, falling, spaghetti, sweat, and the food police, John Jerome shares his contagious passion for the most basic of sports.
“A revolutionary is where you find him,” wrote running’s leading writer, Dr. George Sheehan, as he reflected on the revolution-charged 1960s. “He could be the guy next door. Joe Henderson looks like a typical guy next door. Out of Iowa, he has the smile and style of the heartland of America. But he has fallen for that old Socratic saw that the unexamined life is not worth living.
Running Like a Girl tells the story of how Alexandra gets beyond the brutal part, makes running a part of her life, and reaps the rewards: not just the obvious things, like weight loss, health, and glowing skin, but self-confidence and immeasurable daily pleasure, along with a new closeness to her father—a marathon runner—and her brother, with whom she ultimately runs her first marathon.
In the fall of 2012, quirky and cat-loving Cleveland librarian Jill Grunenwald got an alarming email from her younger sister: her sister was very concerned with Jill’s weight and her overall mental and physical health. Having always struggled with her weight, Jill was currently hitting the scales at more than three hundred pounds. Right then, Jill looked in the mirror and decided that she needed to make a life-style change, pronto. She enrolled in Weight Watchers and did something else that she–the girl who avoided gym class like the plague in high school–never thought she’d do; Jill started running. And believe it or not, it wasn’t that bad. Actually, it was kind of fun.
In Strong: A Confidence Journal For Runners and All Brave Women, Kara teaches you how to improve your confidence and mental preparedness while training for a race. Although often overlooked, mental preparation is just as important as physical preparation when it comes to preparing for a race. For the first time ever, two-time Olympian, World Champion runner, and most Influential Female Running Personality (Run USA), Kara Goucher, is sharing her practice of keeping a Confidence Journal with the world.
Get fit, get fast, and go farther with Olympic runner Kara Goucher’s comprehensive guide to running for women! Kara Goucher is crazy, madly, head-over-heels in love with running, and she wants to help you feel that love, too. Whether you’re just getting started or already a seasoned runner, this is the book that will take you to the next level.
Whether running is your recreation, your religion, or just a spectator sport, Adharanand Finn’s incredible journey to the elite training camps of Kenya will captivate and inspire you. Part travelogue, part memoir, this mesmerizing quest to uncover the secrets of the world’s greatest runners—and put them to the test—combines practical advice, a fresh look at barefoot running, and hard-won spiritual insights.
From noted ESPN commentator and journalist Kate Fagan, the heartbreaking and vital story of college athlete Madison Holleran, whose death by suicide rocked the University of Pennsylvania campus and whose life reveals with haunting detail and uncommon understanding the struggle of young people suffering from mental illness today.
The Tao of Running brings a fresh and unique perspective to the topic of running. It offers readers multiple ways to significantly deepen, enlighten, and enrich their running experiences.
Join the hundreds of thousands of people who are now running without injury or pain using the ChiRunning method. This new edition is fully updated with fresh insights and innovative training techniques from one of the sport’s leading voices. Danny Dreyer teaches us how to heal and prevent injuries and also to run faster, farther, and with much less effort at any age or ability.
Longtime running writer Scott Douglas marshals expert advice (especially his own, cultivated from more than 110,000 miles of personal experience), and a growing body of scientific research to show how running can make us happier.
The 50th anniversary of the first four-minute mile is May 6, 2004. Since that great day in 1954 when Roger Bannister broke through the wall that many said would never be breached, hundreds of milers have gone sub-four—but the achievement is still an extraordinary one, and the four-minute mile stands as a measure of greatness.
The monikers drunk, addict, abuser, and boozehound were Caleb Daniloff’s for fifteen years. Now, the introduction that fits him best is My name is Caleb and I am a runner.
In How to Lose a Marathon, Joel Cohen takes readers on a step-by-step journey from being a couch potato to being a couch potato who can finish a marathon. Through a hilarious combination of running tips, narrative, illustrations and infographics, Cohen breaks down the misery that is forcing yourself to run.
Chasing the Runner’s High is the story of how Ray Charbonneau pushed his addiction to running up to, and then past, his limits. Ray shares what he learned, what he should have learned, and what he still has to learn from running.
John Brant re-creates the tense drama of the 1982 Boston Marathon—and the powerful forces of fate that drove these two athletes in the years afterwards.
Once considered a feat for superhuman athletes, the marathon is now within every mortal’s grasp. Former couch potato John Bingham has joined forces with coach Jenny Hadfield to create a winning plan that works for every mortal–even you.
“The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” Take your first step toward fitness and a happier, healthier life.
For a moment, Dick Beardsley became the most famous runner in the world by losing a race. In the 1982 Boston Marathon, Beardsley, foiled by a motorcycle that cut him off, finished two seconds behind Alberto Salazar in one of the most memorable contests in marathon history.
In the tradition of Seabiscuit and Chariots of Fire, Bascomb delivers a breathtaking story of unlikely heroes and leaves listeners with a lasting portrait of the twilight years of the golden age of sport.
In the tradition of Wild and H Is for Hawk, a former Outside magazine writer tells her story—of fathers and daughters, grief and renewal, adventure and obsession, and the power of running to change your life.
Every sport has rules. Running is no exception. If you’re curious, just visit the Web site of USA Track & Field, the sport’s governing body, where you’ll find detailed dictates on everything from disqualification to bib-number placement to the caliber of the starter’s pistol.
From the author of the New York Times bestseller Once a Runner–“the best novel ever written about running” (Runner’s World)–comes that novel’s prequel, the story of a world-class athlete coming of age in the 1950s and ’60s on Florida’s Gold Coast. Quenton Cassidy’s first foot races are with nature itself: the summer storms that sweep through his subtropical neighborhood.
If you purchase something through the affiliate links on this page, Write Now Columbus, a collection of resources for central Ohio writers and readers, will receive a small percentage of the sale.
